The invention relates to a computed tomography apparatus which includes a scanning unit which is rotatable, relative to an examination zone, around an axis of rotation which extends through the examination zone, and also includes a radiation source for generating a primary radiation fan beam which traverses the examination zone, and a two-dimensional detector array which includes a plurality of detector elements and a part of the measuring surface of which detects primary radiation from the primary radiation fan beam whereas another part of its measuring surface detects scattered radiation produced in the examination zone.
A computed tomography apparatus of this kind is described in European patent application No. 01200652.4. This arrangement detects so-called elastic or coherent scattered X-rays. As is known, such X-rays occur when the X-ray quanta do not loose energy during the scattering process; the type of scattering which involves a loss of energy is referred to as Compton scatter. The elastic scatter is dominant in the case of small scatter angles (for example, angles  less than 10xc2x0) whereas the Compton scatter is dominant in the case of large scatter angles. As opposed to Compton scatter, the elastically scattered radiation allows for a characterization of the modular structure of the matter present in the examination zone.
In order to enable detection of coherent scattered radiation by means of the computed tomography apparatus disclosed in the cited European patent application No. 01200652.4, the fan-shaped radiation beam is subdivided into a number of segments which are referred to as pencil beams, so that the detector elements present in a column parallel to the axis of rotation are exposed to primary or scattered radiation from the same segment. Such a subdivision into a number of segments is realized by way of a plurality of lamellas of a collimator device which is arranged between the examination zone and the detector array.
The momentum transfer searched, being proportional to the product of the energy of the scattered X-ray quanta and the sine of half the scatter angle (the scatter angle is the angle enclosed by the path of the scattered X-ray quantum relative to the path that would have been followed by the X-ray quantum in the absence of scattering), can then be reconstructed by means of an iterative algebraic reconstruction technique. For each voxel in the examination zone which is traversed by a primary beam such a reconstruction yields a momentum transfer spectrum (the momentum transfer spectrum represents the intensity of the scattered radiation as a function of the momentum transfer) which is characteristic of the matter in the relevant voxel and hence enables information to be derived as regards the physical composition.
Because the space between the examination zone and the detector array is often very limited, only short lamellas, for example, lamellas having a length of less than 10 cm in the radiation direction, can be used in the described computed tomography apparatus. This leads to segments of the primary fan beam which diverge in the direction of the source, ultimately leading to artefacts in the reconstruction. Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to construct a computed tomography apparatus in such a manner that fan-shaped radiation beam is influenced in such a manner that the coherent scattered radiation incident on the individual detector elements enables unambiguous determination of the momentum transfer and hence a reconstruction which is as free from artefacts as possible.
This object is achieved in accordance with the invention in that a modulation unit for the temporally and spatially periodic modulation of the primary fan beam is arranged between the radiation source and the examination zone. Because of such modulation of the primary fan beam produced by the radiation source, the coherent scattered radiation from each segment of the primary fan beam can be unambiguously determined by correlation of the measured detector signal with the modulation signal used for the modulation of the radiation. In the section between the radiation source and the examination zone usually enough room is available to accommodate such a modulation unit which requires only a limited amount of space any way. Moreover, unlike the described lamellas of a collimator device, such a modulation unit need not have as large as possible dimensions between the examination zone and the detector array.
Further preferred embodiments are disclosed in the dependent claims.
The primary fan beam can in principle be modulated in different ways. However, the intensity of the primary fan beam is preferably modulated temporally while the phase position of the primary fan beam is modulated spatially as in the embodiment disclosed in claim 2. Furthermore, the modulation is conceived to be such that the transmission factor of the modulation unit, being dependent on the location and the time, exhibits an as large as possible variation, meaning notably that it covers the range from 0 to 1 as well as possible.
A large number of possibilities exist as regards the construction of the modulation unit. Claim 3 discloses a preferred possibility. This embodiment is provided with two diaphragm elements which are diametrically arranged relative to the modulation axis, the modulation axis extending perpendicularly to the axis of rotation and transversely of the direction of propagation of the primary fan beam. These diaphragm elements are arranged helically around the modulation axis and are capable of rotating about this axis so as to achieve the desired modulation by such rotation. In this helical arrangement, the diaphragm elements are led once through 180xc2x0 around the modulation axis; however, they may also be led an integer multiple of 180xc2x0 around the modulation axis.
Various implementations of the embodiment of the computed tomography apparatus as disclosed in claim 3, notably of the diaphragm elements, are given in the claims 4 to 6.
As is indicated in claim 7, the modulation unit may also be configured in such a manner that there is formed a plurality of radiation beam units with each time a separate modulation.
Modulation is realized in the simplest way by selecting a sinusoidal modulation function, meaning that the transmission factor of the modulation unit, being dependent on the location and the time, varies sinusoidally in dependence on the location and the time.